Monday, October 24, 2011

Here's another great math curriculum: MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Program) You can download the practice books, lesson plans, and answer keys (for upper years) through the University website. if you have questions about how to use the site, there's an email support group. Password required to use the site, but homeschoolers in the US have had no problem obtaining one when they ask.

Friday, October 21, 2011

I'm 8 months pregnant now! I can't believe it. I am soooo excited to meet you! You have been so much fun the last couple months. You move so much and I just LOVE it! Every night when I lay down in bed, you wake up and start kicking against the bed. Daddy and I really enjoy it. As I sit typing this you seem to be stretching out your arms and legs, punching and kicking me in four different places. You're so funny!

I want to prepare your for your new family. In a couple months, it won't just be you and me anymore. Not only will you get to meet that low voice who makes me smile and laugh (that's Daddy, he's fantastic); you'll also get to meet your seven siblings at home. Although you haven't seen them yet, and they haven't seen you, they are absolutely nuts about you already. Just wait, you'll have your every need and want met instantly by all of them. Well, maybe not Julia. I should warn you about Julia. She might be jealous. She's used to being fawned over the way you will be. Be patient with her. She's going to go nuts over you too; it just may not seem like she likes you too much in the beginning. Plan now to close your eyes tight when you see her little finger headed your way!

It has been so fun getting to know you so far. I can't wait til we all get to meet you.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Instead of buying books, trade them! For every book you ship, you get to pick a book for free. I have a long wish list, so any time one of my wishes becomes available, Paperback Swap will automatically ship it to me. WooHoo!

Another way to get free books is by reviewing them. With BookSneeze, you sign up to review a new book, and then you get to keep it.

Monday, October 17, 2011

LOS ANGELES , CALIFORNIA. A new 33-minute award-winning movie has stirred up a hornet’s nest on Youtube. “180” has had a record-breaking 12,000 plus comments, many of which were so angry it left ears tingling. In 16 days, close to a million people have freely watched the movie on www.180Movie.com. The fiery controversy is over the comparison of the Jewish Holocaust with American abortion. The Huffington Post quoted author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel as saying,

"It is blasphemy to reduce a tragedy of such monumental proportions to this human tragedy, and abortion is a human tragedy." He added that those who compare the holocaust to abortion “prove that they do not know what the Holocaust was."

The movie’s producer, best-selling author, Ray Comfort, disagrees. “I’m also Jewish, and I spent months researching for a book I wrote calledHitler, God, and the

Biblehttp://www.amazon.com/Hitler-God-Bible-Ray-Comfort/dp/1936488248 and wept my way through the Holocaust. It was a horror beyond words. But I have to agree in one respect. Nearly 60 million Americans have been slaughtered by abortion, and that’s ten timesthe amount of Jews who died under the Nazis. So as far as numbers are concerned, there is no comparison.”

In “180” Comfort argues that Hitler justified killing six millions Jews by saying that they weren’t “human,” and he maintains that that’s what those who are pro-abortion do with babies in the womb. Comfort, who is also a TV co-host, added, “But the Nazi comparison doesn’t stop there. Many people think that it was a mystery as to what motived Hitler to kill so many Jews. It’s not mystery at all. He seized the assets of wealthy Jewish families, and each one he murdered added up to billions of dollars.” According to the experts, Hitler financed a massive 30 per cent of the German war effort by killing Jews and stealing their wealth. “Jewish murder was a lucrative and lawful business--from the taking of their homes, their paintings, their savings, the gold in their teeth, to the hair on their heads—all of it added up to money in the bank for Hitler, and American abortion has the same big incentive.”

Comfort pointed to abortion provider’s prices, by saying, “If you don’t believe that it’s a huge money-making scheme, check out your local provider’s current prices. They will perform a procedure for just $765 for up to a 16-week-old child, but the price increases if the baby is over 19 weeks. You will be shelling out three times the amount, and paying a whopping $2,165 http://www.fpamg.net/fees. That’s pretty good income for a few minutes of ripping off the arms, the legs, and head of a baby onto a table; checking the body parts to make sure they’re all out, and then putting them in the trash. And it’s all legal, just like the Holocaust.”

Friday, October 14, 2011

Homeschool.com was asked to find a bunch of homeschool families to "product test" this movie. It's the story of a 10 year old boy, dying of cancer, who wants to do something important with his life, so he won't be forgotten. He chooses to break the world record of snowmen-building.

I've seen several movies about dying boys lately and I've noticed something in all of them. All the boys, who have less than a year to live, go to school all day and come home to play with their friends for hours only to have about an hour together with their parents right before bed. May I just ask: If your child is dying and you have very limited time left with them, why is education still such a huge focus for their day?

If I knew that my child wouldn't see his 11th year of life, there is no way on earth I'd be sending them off to school all day. I'd bring them home so we could be together. And not to homeschool them. To enjoy them, love them, and disciple them.

Ok, that's one thing that nags at me with these type of movies. The second was the 10 year old romance. No, no, no, I'm not letting my kids watch a movie about a little boy and the little hot girl who fawns over him (and in this case, makes him lie to all his classmates to impress her and them (and no, the fact that it was wrong was never brought up in the movie)).

Then the dying boy, whose parents have guaranteed that he'll go to heaven because "he's a kid, so he doesn't even have to be good", tells the school bully to "Pi-- off!"

I was done at that point. This may be considered a family movie, but it certainly isn't a Christian movie. I was unimpressed.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

If all other variables are equal, your capacity to know God deeply will probably diminish in direct proportion to how much television you watch. Television reflects American culture at its most trivial. And a steady diet of triviality shrinks the soul. You get used to it. It starts to seem normal. Silly becomes funny. Funny becomes pleasing. And pleasing becomes soul-satisfaction. In the end the soul that is made for God has shrunk to fit snugly around triteness.

- taken from "Pierced by the Word" by John Piper

Several years ago, we got rid of satellite tv and just got Netflix. Then a year or so later, we got rid of Netflix. But we still have Hulu.com and YouTube available, so we can still watch plenty of television. I can relate to John Piper's wise quote. Even without television.

Monday, October 10, 2011

One really EASY way to get stuff for free is by using Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a search engine powered by Google that rewards you for using it. When you use their site, you earn "swagbucks". And with your swagbucks, you can buy whatever's on your wish list. Every week or two, I earn an Amazon gift card, so this is an easy way to hack away at my Amazon wishlist without spending a dime.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

So a few weeks ago, one of my readers asked about couponing to save money. I proudly asserted that I don't use coupons. Who has the time?

Well, then I (quite literally) stumbled across a few youtube videos about "krazy" coupon ladies and I thought: Maybe I should give it a try.

I've only been couponing for three weeks, but I've been very impressed with the little bit I've been able to save so far.

Here's this week's CVS and Walgreen's deals I made:

6 boxes Granola bars- $1 each

4 bottles of Dove Shampoo + 2 men's deodorant- 58c each

Suave Professionals shampoo- 83c

Suave Professionals conditioner- 83c

4 family-size bottles Softsoap body wash- $1 each

2 tubes Nivea lipbalm- 50c each

1 box Coldcalm homeopathic- free

1 pkg. Huggies Little Movers diapers- free

$16.15 for all of it

Edited to add: Oh nuts, I forgot the candy. I got a big bag of Pretzel M&Ms, a big bag of snack-size Twix, and a big bag of snack-size Three Musketeers for $1 total. And Halloween hasn't even happened yet!

Not too shabby. Here's what I've learned:

They used to charge for someone to match up the sales with the coupons (i.e. Grocery Game). (That's how you save the big bucks.) Now that info is free, via sponsored websites. I get all my info at The Krazy Coupon Lady.

I don't have to pay for 6 copies of the Sunday paper to get all the coupons I need. Monday afternoon, there are gobs of coupon inserts still in the plastic wrap sitting at the top of the newspaper recycling bins at the elementary school a few blocks from home. Takes us 3 minutes to save $18 on papers.

My kids LOVE helping with this, which makes the task that much easier and more fun.

It does take time. So does my husband's job. But he never complains about not having the time to go to work. Both jobs bring money. We're both willing to work for money. ;)

So, I may be a new coupon convert. I'm giving it three months before I decide. But I'm so happy with the dividends already; I don't foresee quitting any time soon.